Creating authetic toys based on Animated Characters

Pixar is working with  Disney consumer products, pressing for better-quality toys in a business associated with sometimes shoddy and opportunistic merchandise.  First goal is to stop “label slapping,” in which a toy maker uses a popular movie title to sell generic toys that are otherwise unrelated to the film.

“If we’re going to make a movie, it’s going to be the best movie that we can make,” Lasseter said. “I take that exact philosophy when it comes to every other product that’s going to be referencing a [Disney or Pixar] character or movie — especially when it comes to toys.”

Disney’s consumer products group hopes to benefit from this new philosphy.

The group, which operates Disney Stores in North America and licenses toys, clothes, bedding and even food, accounted for 9% of the entertainment giant’s operating income in fiscal 2009.

But the division’s operating profit fell 22% from a year earlier, in part because of the recession but also because it lacked hot new properties. Lasseter’s efforts appear to be paying off.

Dolls, bedding and other items inspired by “The Princess and the Frog” have been selling briskly.  The week of Thanksgiving, Princess Tiana items outsold the perennial favorite, “The Little Mermaid’s” Ariel, by $700,000.  LA Times

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